similar acts that some of my colleagues in this chamber have faced, in aurora and portland, tucson, littleton. you can't help but feel a despairing of the soul. you know, we in this institution cannot afford that luxury. we need to be strong. for the families of the fallen in newtown. and for the families of children all over america. to the newtown community and to all the connecticut families and parents and the siblings who have been touched by what happened on friday, our thoughts and our prayers are with you. what you are going through is undescribeble. we can be sympathetic, we can be everyone thetic, we do not know that sense of despair that you feel. but you must know that our nation shares and mourns your loss. i too, as my colleague, chris murphy, acknowledged, the tremendous heroism of the adults who were killed on friday. individuals like principal dawn hock sfrung, who ran -- hochsprung, who ran at the assassin, told people to run away from them in order to protect her kids in the school. the school teacher, vickie soto, stratford, connecticut, and i represent stratford, connecti